Becca

That summer you treated Becca like a fragile work of art. You were afraid to get too close because something might break. It was as clear as could be to me you were in love with her. Dumbo here never came close to believing me on that.

It never occurred to you to ask her out to the meadow. I spent the summer trying to get Becca to take you there herself. She worried when you disappeared on Saturday nights. She just knew you were in the meadow with someone but admitted she and Fran never saw you there. The summer ended and the best she managed was to get you on the dance floor on our last night of camp. This year I threatened to beat her ass with my tennis racket if she did not plop herself next to you on our very first day and take you to the meadow later.

I told her that a counselor named Margaret had her eye on you and even though she knew Margaret was not the kind of girl you would be interested in she felt she could not risk it. The rest is history."

"Not exactly", I said. "Let me tell you the rest of the story. Becca, I know one of the things that made you a star athlete was your concentration. Unfortunately that never allowed you to scan the stands. Had you done so you would have seen me there. I missed less than ten of your games during your three varsity years.

By the way, by our senior year Coach Sokoloff knew I had a crush on you. Your affair with Fran was going strong so she probably did not think it would be worthwhile to bring it up."

"I saw you in the stands" Becca said. "I thought you were watching Maryanne, or Pam, or just a fan of the team. I did not allow myself to think you were there because of me."

"I was standing behind you as you were telling Pam that you had accepted a date to the prom from Chad", I continued. "It happened as I was about to ask you to be my date. Remember Pam asked me with whom I was going to the prom and I answered no one has asked me. You both laughed at the line.

As I walked away Pam joined me and floored me by asking me to be her date to the prom. You and Chad dated steadily for the rest of the school year so I stayed away not wanting to cause any trouble. I dated Pam for a while, hoping she would tell me when you became free. She knew it was you I wanted."

Becca was horrified. She shouted " The only date I had with Chad was to the prom. He bragged to everyone that he took my cherry and I hated him for ruining the experience for me.

He told everyone I could not get enough of him. We only fucked once. It took a strong talk from my father to get him to leave me alone and shut the fuck up. Pam knew all of this. She did not tell you? Shit, I'm going to kill her."

Mrs. Green consoled her as I continued. "Your father was not the only one to have a talk with Chad. After I heard him brag about nailing you I asked him politely to keep such things to himself. When he challenged me I lost my temper completely.

His black eye and broken nose were not delivered by your father. Just his broken rib.

The summer I came back from college I had gained some confidence and called you at home. Your mother told me you were working a summer camp and would be gone most of the summer. After she had given me all the data I needed to find the camp I drove out here the following Saturday.

But I never came up with anything I could say to you that did not paint me as a stalker, so I drove back home."

"Black Mustang convertible, tan top?" asked Mrs. Green.

"Yes."

"We wondered who that was."

Mrs. Green turned to Becca and said, "The security cameras picked him up. His top was up so we could not see him clearly. We saw a young man talking to himself. He stayed about thirty minutes and drove off without ever getting out of the car."

"Did your mother tell you I called?"

"Yes, she told me somebody called but could not remember the name. I had always assumed it had been Chad," she said throwing her arms up.

"Last summer I found a notice for camp workers in the mail. I applied but was surprised I was accepted since I had no experience with kids. Now I know how I got the job, " I said with a nod to Mrs. Green.

"As a Biology major Mr. Green put me in charge of the trail walks and the nature talks. I found myself loving it. I was always around you but you were always surrounded by friends, especially Fran. I did not know anybody here except you two and I could not get close to you. I assumed you did not want me around so I decided to immerse myself in the job.

After dinner on Saturdays I walked the trails and caught creatures to use in the nature classes. My Saturday dates were with snakes, lizards, and frogs. If you search your memory of the last day, it was me who initiated our dance. Until this summer it had been the highlight of my life."

Silence greeted my confession. It had been the longest speech of my life not to involving Nature. Finally Becca asked with a sigh, "So, how long have you been in love with me?"

"Since the ninth grade."

Becca screamed in agony or frustration. Or both. She came to me and beat me on the chest then screamed "You owe me seven years of loving. The day you decide you don't love me anymore you will have to stop for a second and remind yourself, Oops I owe her seven more years."

She stopped beating my chest and held me tightly.

"Gawd I love you so much."

"Now you tell me."

She went back to beating on my chest. I hugged her to me and we swayed in each others arms for a while. We suddenly noticed we were alone. Mrs. Green had slipped out of the hall.

Becca and I collected our supplies and headed back home. As we reached the steps we found a bottle of wine and a note. "Good night to get drunk don't you think." It was signed T. G.

"Her first name is Teresa" Becca explained.

We saw shadows walking towards the junior counselor's cabins. It was about the time for all to vacate the meadow.

As we entered our "first home" Becca glanced at the large cabin by the lake and jokingly wondered if Fran was still alive.

I fixed us glasses of wine as Becca began to go over the resumes of our new counselors.There were three guys and two girls. One of the guys would be replacing me, (a note said it would be my choice).

One girl was to be Becca's replacement, (her choice). All were nineteen and between high school and college. They all said the right things and had passed a background check.

Becca fixed us sandwiches as I fixed two more drinks. We cuddled on the sofa and listened to music from my small CD player.

It felt like a quiet night at home by a long married couple. The kind of couple that rinses the dishes together, turn out the lights, then goes to bed and tries to fuck each others brains out. Every night.

The kind of married couple that never spends a single night apart until the world ends. We were to be that couple.

We drove the eighty miles between our schools every weekend our senior year. Well I drove forty six and she drove thirty four, there was a cheap motel there.

Every holiday we alternated homes and parents to stay with. After spring break she attended a recruiting event at her school and called urging me to go meet her ASAP. I was there at noon and found myself eating lunch with a small redheaded woman. She was recruiting for teachers and asked me to give her my student ID as we ate.

Before I got back to my campus Becca and I had jobs with the Felicity School District. So did Fran.

We married then moved to Felicity and found ourselves in heaven. Fran found herself in a place better than that for a lesbian even before Fiona moved into town.

We had lived there for ten years and had two daughters when the town moved. Strangely it affected our lives very little.